Austin Rivers Reacts To His CRAZY High School Mixtapes & Tells It All!
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Austin Rivers, who was one of the most legendary mixtape players of all time, reacts to his old high school mixtapes and discusses.
00:00 - Intro
00:11 - City of Palms Mixtape
3:11 - What it was like being filmed by Ballislife
4:37 - Some of his favorite mixtapes
6:15 - Crossing up John Wall at Elite 24
8:45 - The "What If" Game
9:52 - Ballislife Summer 2010 Mixtape
10:52 - Lost Tapes
12:21 - Biggest Rival In High School
13:05 - Senior Season Mixtape
16:41 - Thoughts on social media and it's influence on athletes
Austin Rivers, who was one of the most legendary mixtape players of all time, reacts to his old high school mixtapes and discusses.
00:00 - Intro
00:11 - City of Palms Mixtape
3:11 - What it was like being filmed by Ballislife
4:37 - Some of his favorite mixtapes
6:15 - Crossing up John Wall at Elite 24
8:45 - The "What If" Game
9:52 - Ballislife Summer 2010 Mixtape
10:52 - Lost Tapes
12:21 - Biggest Rival In High School
13:05 - Senior Season Mixtape
16:41 - Thoughts on social media and it's influence on athletes
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SportsTranscript
00:00 What's up everybody I'm Awesome Rivers. I'm here at Ballas Life here to watch some of my mixtapes and go through it.
00:05 This will be interesting to go back and see some of the high school stuff man. Let's get to it.
00:28 Yeah, that was the tournament at the time. City of Palms was where all the real Hoopers played in.
00:35 It's a big time tournament man. You knew you were going to get some bump versus the top competition in the country.
00:40 Everybody came in for that. And it used to be at this little high school in Fort Myers.
00:44 And it was fire. Good environment, real basketball fans, good Hooper gym, wall right behind the basket.
00:55 You know what I mean? Like one of those things.
00:58 Yeah, I'd get the night games. I always had the 7 o'clock, 7.30 games which was fun.
01:12 Because you'd come in at like 5, something before the game and it was already packed in there. That was a good feeling.
01:24 No, I don't.
01:25 It was a perfect. Actually it was this game. You have to guess. How many did you guess?
01:31 Um, who's this verse? This is verse.
01:35 I don't know. I don't know how much I...
01:39 I think it was 45.
01:40 45?
01:41 Yeah.
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03:09 That was your first time being filmed by Ball is Life.
03:15 Yeah, back then only like the most valid players in high school got mixtapes.
03:19 You'd only get a mixtape if you were a top tier player.
03:22 So you knew anytime you were watching somebody, they were, you know, top level prospect in the country.
03:29 It was a big deal to get a Ball is Life mixtape, you know what I mean?
03:33 Mixtape era was at its peak in my opinion.
03:36 You know, we followed those of like the OJ Mayos and Derrick Roses, Brendan Jennings.
03:41 You know, these are the guys that we kind of watched.
03:43 And then I thought peak was around my time, a couple years before and after me.
03:49 You know, with the John Walls and some of the guys like that.
03:52 Kiel Carrs after a couple of other people too as well.
03:55 Wiggins, you know, there's some sick, sick, sick high school players, but yeah.
04:00 And did you notice a difference before you got a mixtape and after you got a mixtape?
04:06 People would go to YouTube and watch your clips.
04:08 It was like a whole thing.
04:11 I remember just like my junior, senior year when we'd play teams, there would be--
04:17 people would be excited to go to the games because y'all were following my, you know, my games.
04:22 So it would be on the internet.
04:24 And they knew they were going to be in a part of a mixtape.
04:26 Even though it was on the trailing end of them, they just wanted to be in it.
04:29 It became like a big thing.
04:32 It created more awareness.
04:34 My games and my AU circuit would get more packed and everything like that.
04:37 So it just made it more fun.
04:39 It made the energy in the building always exciting.
04:41 It was easy for me to get up for games because I had so much kind of motion going on at that time.
04:46 It was a lot of fun.
04:47 High school got mixtapes.
04:48 You'd only get a mixtape if you were a top-tier player.
04:51 So you knew anytime you were watching somebody, they were, you know, top-level prospect in the country.
04:58 It was a big deal to get at Ballas Life Mixtape, you know what I mean?
05:02 Mixtape era was at its peak, in my opinion.
05:04 You know, we followed those of like the O.J. Mayos and Derrick Roses, Brendan Jennings.
05:10 You know, these are the guys that we kind of watched.
05:12 And then I thought peak was around my time a couple years before and after me, you know,
05:18 with the John Walls and some of the guys like that, Kiel Kars after a couple other people too as well, Wiggins.
05:24 You know, there's some sick, sick, sick high school players, but yeah.
05:28 And did you notice a difference before you got a mixtape and after you got a mixtape?
05:34 People would go to YouTube and watch your clips.
05:36 It was like a whole thing.
05:39 I remember just like my junior/senior year where we'd play teams, there would be--
05:45 people would be excited to go to the games because y'all were following my games.
05:50 So it would be on the Internet.
05:52 So they knew they were going to be in a part of a mixtape.
05:54 Even though it was on the trailing end of them, they just wanted to be in it.
05:57 It became like a big thing.
06:00 It created more awareness.
06:02 My games and my AAU circuit would get more packed and everything like that.
06:05 So it just made it more fun.
06:07 It made the energy in the building always exciting.
06:09 It was easy for me to get up for games because I had so much kind of motion going around at that time.
06:14 It was a lot of fun.
06:15 So this next one is from Elite 24.
06:19 Elite 24. Yeah.
06:21 Remember this?
06:22 Yeah, I remember this, man.
06:24 You want to explain what happened?
06:26 So this was like the most important part of Elite 24.
06:30 The game itself was always just bump, but this was like when you got to compete against the pros
06:39 and kind of level yourself where you were at.
06:42 So for me, John Wall was naturally like he was a couple classes over me.
06:45 I wanted to play against him.
06:48 John was so explosive.
06:53 Me with like no beard is so trippy, bro.
06:56 I look so strange.
06:57 I don't know what that is.
07:00 Look at that.
07:02 Yeah, I kind of went a little cross.
07:04 I probably caught him off guard, honestly.
07:11 Oh, that's the clip.
07:14 He caught me with the Hesi.
07:16 Look at that.
07:17 Tough.
07:19 Man, I can only imagine if we had social media during that time.
07:23 In some ways, I'm thankful I didn't have it just because I felt like that would have been maybe too much attention.
07:31 You know, there was already so much stuff going on that for me, everything that I had worked just enough.
07:38 I only got like that attention when I put up to a game.
07:40 You know what I mean?
07:41 I didn't have to face it at home on my social media where you're just surrounded by that stuff all the time, people coming at you.
07:46 You know, I look at some of these young players in high school today and how many followers they have in high school and all this.
07:52 I can only imagine having that if we had Instagram when I played.
07:56 So it's crazy.
07:58 It's completely different going viral then versus now because it's--I don't want to say it's easier to go viral now, but there's so much access.
08:07 We watch everything.
08:08 Everything's on camera.
08:09 Everything's recorded.
08:10 Everything's on a phone.
08:11 Everything--every tournament, every AU, there's a million mixtapes by a million different companies.
08:15 You know, you got this.
08:16 Media coverage in general in sports is just double, triple, quadruple all the way down to grassroots level.
08:22 So going viral now might not hit as hard as it did back then because back then you only went viral if you were one of the heavy hitters.
08:31 You only would have clips, mixtapes, coverage of you if you were like one of the valid top-ranked guys.
08:38 So it just meant more.
08:39 So I just felt like it just wasn't as--the access wasn't the same.
08:44 I think that's the biggest difference.
08:45 Me and my pops called this the "What If" game.
08:51 He came to this game and, you see, I puzzled his ass.
08:56 That dude was like 6'10" too.
08:57 He was humongous.
08:58 No, no, I didn't dunk on people like that.
09:03 That was like my first for real, for real, poster on the AU--I mean on the main circuit because I used to get people in high school OD.
09:10 But I got hurt in the third quarter.
09:11 I had 32.
09:13 I had 32 points, like with six minutes left in the third.
09:16 It was going to be like one of my highest scoring games I've had.
09:19 I was cooking.
09:20 I sprained my ankle bad.
09:21 We ended up winning by like 20 still, but that was one of my biggest--I got mad I got hurt that game.
09:27 I would have had probably a 50-something.
09:29 I was feeling good, springy.
09:31 I had cut a lob right after that body.
09:34 Shooting the ball good.
09:35 It was one of those games where I just felt really good.
09:37 And my pops was there.
09:39 He couldn't come to a lot of games just with his job and everything.
09:42 And he lived in Boston, so being in Springfield, he was able to just jet over.
09:46 So you know how it is when you play in front of your people.
09:48 Like, you got to go crazy.
09:49 That was a fun game.
09:51 I think there's some peach jam comping in here.
09:57 Peach jam.
09:58 I never really--I would go crazy at peach jam here and there, but I always wanted to dominate peach jam more than I did.
10:04 It was the one tournament I always felt like I didn't have some of my greatest stuff in.
10:09 Ooh.
10:10 That right-headsy pull-up, man, that's like the go-to.
10:15 The hang dribble.
10:17 I still use that in terms of guys getting their looks.
10:19 That right-headsy pull-up was quick.
10:22 What are, like--what aspects of your game are you really impressed with in your head for the league?
10:29 My explosiveness.
10:31 It was underrated.
10:33 I always had--I still have the first step.
10:37 The first step and, like, the quick--I have everything, like, that I'm seeing right now.
10:40 I'm just, like, more of a better version of this now.
10:44 But the explosion vertically, that's the way--I mean, that's how I lasted in the league for 11 years, was my damn jab.
10:50 My damn jab step.
10:52 Just me being able to defend.
10:54 What were some--how did that happen that, like, no one will ever hear about?
10:57 Man, some lost files.
10:59 We had a lot of lost file games when I teamed up with B. Knight for, like, a whole summer, me and Brandon Knight.
11:07 People forget Brandon Knight in high school was, like--
11:09 He was number one.
11:10 He was number one for, like, a long time.
11:12 Like, he was the guy.
11:14 And injuries took a hold of his career in the NBA, but Brandon was a really good player.
11:20 Still is a good player.
11:21 And in high school, we were--he was a class above me.
11:24 He was number one and I was number one.
11:25 We were both number one, playing with each other on the same team.
11:28 But for whatever reason, like, we didn't get mixtapes together.
11:30 It's so strange.
11:31 I always look back at all the mixtapes I made.
11:33 I'm like, how didn't me and Brandon get--
11:35 In fact, I'm just learning about this brand.
11:37 That's what I'm saying.
11:38 Like, me and B and I were on the same team.
11:40 We used to cut up some people, man.
11:41 There were games where there would be a 100-point score and me and Brandon would have, like, 88 of them or 90 of them.
11:48 Like, yeah, just the whole game going back.
11:49 We had games where we'd just run them off.
11:51 So, I got the Boo Williams-Brad Beal one.
11:54 Yep.
11:55 Yeah.
11:56 That was--but there was a couple other ones.
11:58 I had a game versus KCP at Disney at 55.
12:02 I went against CP3 All-Stars at 47.
12:05 It was like PJ Harris and Reggie Bullock.
12:07 A couple other pros were on that team as well at 47 that game.
12:10 So, there's a lot of games I can name, honestly.
12:12 You know what I mean?
12:13 I was scoring so much.
12:15 So, that's--yeah, I wish they had the B-Knight AR series.
12:18 That would have been dope.
12:19 Yeah, Brad.
12:29 Brad was, you know, the guy in high school that--I think our junior year--by our junior year, he was the guy that was always, you know, the other two-guard.
12:38 He was the dude that always, you know, you had to come with your A-game because, you know, he was going to come with his.
12:45 He was a great player, obviously, as he's turned out to be.
12:47 So, that was the dude in high school when I knew who I was playing against.
12:50 We used to get amped up, and those games meant more to both of us.
12:53 You know what I mean?
12:54 But just mutual respect.
12:56 He was just--you know, he was a tactical scorer, still is.
13:00 So, it was fun playing against him and competing against him.
13:04 He has so much lost footage, bro, like from practice and stuff.
13:07 We always talk--we used to talk about that.
13:09 I don't know what happened all that stuff.
13:10 Look at AD, bro.
13:23 That's still my go-to, man, getting the shot off of that right heavy pull, cross series.
13:32 Yeah, that's right to the next play.
13:39 Man, that shit was so much fun, bro.
13:50 You out there playing with all the best players in the world, everybody talking trash, competing in the pickup games,
13:54 comparing against one another, you know, that type of competitive atmosphere.
13:58 The US--the hoop summit, like that game was fire.
14:01 Being out there in the Nike hoop summit, that was a big-time game.
14:06 And then obviously getting to do this, the dunk contest.
14:08 People forget I was in the dunk contest.
14:09 Yeah, I put on my pop's Hawks jersey, man.
14:16 I took it off.
14:17 I tried to get his McDonald's jersey, but it burned down, actually, in one of our houses.
14:21 It burned down.
14:22 But we still had the Hawks jersey.
14:26 So I was able to put that on and kind of shut out my old man.
14:31 Man, that's Coach Hurley right there, bro.
14:38 Hold up.
14:40 Look at this.
14:44 Look at the eye.
14:46 Point this up.
14:47 Bro, that is literally Coach Hurley right here coaching.
14:51 Now he's a two-time champ for the Yukon Huskies.
14:55 That's crazy.
14:59 He's the man, too.
15:02 I love his energy.
15:06 This is why I love that tournament.
15:07 He was constantly playing against me.
15:09 God damn it, in and out.
15:10 I remember that shit.
15:11 Pull back.
15:13 He almost dropped.
15:14 Was that the game against Ricardo Gathers?
15:16 Yes.
15:17 The football player, right?
15:18 Yeah.
15:19 Yeah, yeah.
15:22 In university, that court used to be so slippery.
15:29 He tried to get it back, too.
15:32 He wanted it back.
15:45 Yeah, man.
15:48 I actually can still do that stuff.
15:49 That shit's crazy.
15:52 I was messing around in the gym a couple weeks ago,
15:54 and I pulled that out.
15:57 I still got it between the legs.
16:01 That game, I got hot.
16:02 I remember I hit like five, six in a row.
16:10 Bear shirt.
16:11 Bear -- nothing on.
16:13 Post-game interview in high school was some crazy work.
16:15 Let's talk about it.
16:18 How are you feeling yourself?
16:19 Yeah, I was in my bag, man.
16:28 That was fun, man.
16:29 Wow.
16:32 Look at that little goatee.
16:33 I thought I had something going.
16:34 Jesus.
16:35 That was the look back then.
16:38 That was the look back then for sure.
16:40 It's hard to compare now just due to the fact that social media,
16:43 obviously having a mixtape back then,
16:46 how important it was just due to the fact that you didn't have access.
16:50 YouTube was just kind of a thing,
16:53 and people weren't heavy, heavy on streaming stuff,
16:56 and there wasn't an app like Instagram or Twitter where you see stuff over
16:59 and over every day desensitized by high school highlights because everyone's
17:03 highlights are on the Internet.
17:04 You didn't have none of that.
17:05 So to have a mixtape put out of you by a whole different group of people that
17:10 you didn't really know like that because we only know you all from the far in
17:14 high school until we get to meet you all a little bit more.
17:16 But during that process, you're just playing on the circuit,
17:20 and the next thing you know, you've got a video on YouTube,
17:22 and everybody's talking about it.
17:23 It was just like a thing.
17:24 You felt really proud to be able to get a mixtape or a Hoot mixtape or a
17:27 Ball is Life mixtape.
17:29 You guys have always only really been the two pioneers in that,
17:32 and obviously they're leveled off now,
17:35 and you guys are still the ones doing your stuff.
17:37 But those brands were what it was about.
17:42 Getting one of those tapes meant a lot.
17:44 So it was cool, and I thought the biggest difference is back then we just
17:49 played the games.
17:50 Do you know what I'm saying?
17:51 We were just playing, and then I would get mixtapes.
17:54 I never went into a game knowing you guys were going to be there and be like,
17:58 "I've got to go crazy tonight.
18:01 Ball is Life is going to be there."
18:02 That's the difference between back then and now, I just feel like, personally.
18:06 I could care less who was at my games.
18:08 I was just trying to hoop and win and kill, and then I just got stuff put out of me,
18:12 and it felt more rewarding that way.
18:14 Versus now where you already know all this stuff's going down.
18:17 There's a million cameras in every corner.
18:21 Every kid wants social media followers because that means revenue in dollars.
18:24 Now with NIL, kids are businesses and brands in high school.
18:27 It's just completely different.
18:29 It's like you'd be dumb not to have cameras at your games and pay for them to
18:32 be at your games now,
18:33 considering all the money that can be made at the grassroots level.
18:36 So it's a big difference, you know, a big difference.
18:39 I think high schools now are starting to offer social media classes.
18:43 If we're going to tap into this full tilt and we need to prepare our youth for it,
18:47 if we're going to have NIL money and all these kids being Instagram famous
18:51 and having this level of attention and access to complete strangers around the world,
18:55 then we need to prepare them the best we can.
18:58 If we're going to go that way, we have to do it right.
19:01 The world's in a big hurry right now if we don't take a second to prepare ourselves properly.
19:06 The consequences in terms of just how we set the culture going forward can be toxic.
19:12 And it already is in so many ways, like you said.
19:15 There is a dark side to social media.
19:17 So, you know, having kids go to classes, having parents and coaches talk to their
19:24 athletes about this, you know, that being a focus.
19:30 We have to understand that there's going to be cameras around now for top talent in basketball,
19:36 if we're talking basketball specifically.
19:39 You know, I think putting the best team you can together around these kids
19:45 so they can just continue to focus on the game and the purity of the game and not everything else.
19:49 Just continue to try to build out more and more and more helping hands to help these young athletes
19:55 build out their portfolios, but at the same time maintaining a certain level of being a kid
20:01 and just having fun playing basketball.
20:05 Because that's what it's about, man, just going out there and having fun.
20:09 [Music]
20:19 [Music]
20:22 (whooshing)